Bargain The Genius of Design

The Genius of Design

Design is all around us. It manifests itself in the boardroom and on the battlefied; from the factory floor to the supermarket aisle; in our cars, kitchens and bathrooms; on advertising billboards and food packaging; on movie sets and in computer avatars Design is not just a feature of our surroundings, however, but also a process. When we arrange flowrers in a vase, plan a meal or decide what to wear in the morning, we all engage with design and-on one level-become designers, constantly forming and re-forming the functional and aesthetic surroundings to our existences. Designed spaces and objects give us, and our lives, meaning In The Genius of Design, author and design historian Penny sparke offers us far more than a history of design icons, The book's five chapters broadly take the reader ion a chronological journey, from industrialized manufacture in the nineteenth century; on to the Modern movement, the Bauhaus adn beyond; thorugh austerity and wartime; postwar boom and the potential of new materials and processses; and finishing with an up-to-the-minute engagement with design in the twenty-first century. More than anything, thought, The Genius of Design tells the stories that lie behind the iconic designs of our times. It tells how the first fitted kitchen was based on the principles behind the ford production line, how wartime research ultimately led to the Bic pen, latex condoms, and aviator sunglasses. It celebrates the heroes of design, as well as the lesser know people responsible for some of the everyday objects we take for grandes. And it examines the role of the consmer and the issues of taste-what really is good or bad design? Provocative, absorbing and packed with images, this enthralling book reveals what design means to us-the trivial and the mundane, the five-saving and the world-changing. Above all, it puts human beings back where they belong-at the heart of the debate about what makes good and bad design.